Tag Archive for 'DMNS'

Sherlock Holmes is one of my all-time favorite characters. When I was younger, I enjoyed reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s books. Now, I love the BBC version of Sherlock, and Elementary on CBS. (Not to mention the movie versions with Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law.)

When I heard that my favorite place in Denver was hosting The International Exhibition of Sherlock Holmes, I jumped at the chance to go!

(I was given free tickets to this event in exchange for an honest review.)

SPOILER ALERT: I LOVED IT.
DOUBLE SPOILER ALERT: I THOUGHT I WOULD, BEFORE I EVEN WENT.
TRIPLE SPOILER ALERT: I REALLY DID LOVE IT. I’M NOT JUST SAYING THAT TO BE RIGHT.

So, what did I think of the Sherlock Exhibit? Like I said above, I loved it. We were able to wander through the exhibit at our leisure and solve a mystery while doing so. How awesome is that?? We were there for TWO HOURS…and did it seem like it? No. No, it did not! It was amazing.

With the cost of admission, you are given a booklet, which is a detective’s notepad of sorts. Each station has things to learn and a place to stamp in the book before you move on. In doing so, you’re given a secret code from Sherlock himself! The way it is revealed made me gasp out loud; it was SO CLEVER. (I won’t spoil it.)

Then, you head to 221B Baker Street to see Sherlock’s Victorian Era digs. Museum workers in period costume and British accents are rubbing elbows with the crowd. Other museum volunteers are at each station offering clues and answering questions.

You’re shown a murder scene. #allegedly

You gather your own clues and conduct your own experiments to see if your theories are correct.

Which of the experiments was my favorite? The chemical analysis of something potentially poisonous? Dragging a body? Blood splatter?

It’s so hard to tell!

p.s. It’s also hard to adequately photograph blood spurting from a machine. (The windshield wipers were a comical touch.)

At the end, you make your guesses to some key components and then see if you’re right.

Will the correct secret message appear when we slip our detective’s notepad into the slot? My friend, Melissa, does the honors…

We were right! We got to move on to the next set of clues, and then even more answers were revealed to us.

This is a fantastic exhibit. There is so much I’d love to show you via pictures, but I don’t want to spoil your fun!

If you’ve got small kids in tow, this may not be the one for you. My friend and I spent 2 hours examining everything, and it was so nice to do so without little ones underfoot. I do think my almost-10-year old would TOTALLY DIG this, but use your own judgement.

And to quote Sherlock himself, “Come at once if convenient. If inconvenient, come all the same.” Seriously. Get out to see it! It’s well worth the price of admission.

I have revealed a different message on the back of my detective’s note pad. Click to enlarge…and then GO!

Along with the invitation was the warning: “this film merits a PG rating for some intense wildlife images, including scenes of simulated predation.”

So, of course, we decided to take Claire, our three year old, with us.

It’s so hard to tell what is going to upset her and what isn’t.

She watches all kinds of “nature” programs with us, and they always have the sharp edge of “predation.” I mean, everybody’s gotta eat. Right? Some scenes are a little harsher, and I do try to shield her from those.

The dragon scene in “Sleeping Beauty” where Prince Phillip kills Maleficent? She hardly blinks an eye.

The entire “Finding Nemo” movie? Traumatic experience. She cried through the whole thing! (More than once, because she begged to watch it again!) Every two seconds she was asking me if they were ever going to be reunited. My guess? The name of the movie says it all. It’s not called “They Lose Nemo Forever and Ever. The End.” (And, for the record, I skip the entire first scene with the mother because that almost makes me cry.)

*sigh*

Sea Monsters of the deep? Who knows? They could be like dragons, which though worrisome, are not a deal-breaker. Or, it could be too much like Nemo, and all hope would be abandoned at the door.

Time would tell.

The evening started out well enough. We got to hear from Kenneth Carpenter, PhD, Curator of Paleontology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. He “heads the fossil preparation laboratory at the Museum and is a world-renowned dinosaur expert.” He gave us “the inside story on development of this film, which brings to life the extraordinary marine reptiles of the dinosaur age.”

That part was really cool, actually: seeing what goes into making such a masterpiece.

After he spoke, which wasn’t scary at all actually, the movie started. It was one of the best IMAX movies my husband and I have ever seen. We loved it.

…And it scared poor little Claire half to death.

There were parts of the movie that were scary for me…but I’m old enough to handle it. I actually enjoyed being frightened by the sea monsters leaping out of the prehistoric oceans and into my lap.

Claire, on the other hand, buried her head in my neck for the scary parts and then asked me unending questions about the storyline during the calmer parts. I won’t give anything away, but the movie follows the lives of a little Dolichorhynchops (Dolly for short) family, and not unlike most children’s movies, *cough* Disney *cough* some members of the family may or may not make it to the end of the movie.

The emotional connection in most movies is really strong for Claire, even though she’s only 3, so that was disturbing for her, not to mention the larger-than-life monsters jumping out of the screen. As with anything, kids of all ages may or may not be able to handle such excitement. You be the judge.

Claire didn’t cry, but it wasn’t the best experience for her. Your child may totally dig it. Like I said, my husband and I loved it!